


Investigation

by Windturtle



Series: Non-Linear Universe [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bless these children, Drabble, Gen, they want to believe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-06
Updated: 2018-09-06
Packaged: 2019-07-07 19:21:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15914655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Windturtle/pseuds/Windturtle
Summary: Left behind in the other universe, young Hermione, Ron, and Draco try to make sense of the deaths of their beloved professors.





	Investigation

**Author's Note:**

> This is the last drabble I have for this series. If you've got ideas for more, you can let me know. I can't promise anything, but I do rather love this little universe.

Draco thought it was a bit strange that Professor Lefevre wasn’t standing by the doors of the Great Hall when they returned from Easter break. He and Professor Evans were usually by the doors before they moved up to sit at the head table.

It was strange that they weren’t at the head table either. He looked around the Great Hall, searching for the two of them, but he didn’t see them. He caught Hermione's eye at the Ravenclaw table. She’d noticed too, and looked at him for a long moment before pointing up to the head table. Draco shook his head in reply and she resumed looking around the Great Hall.

“How was your break?” Pansy asked as she sat down next to him, smoothing her robes across her legs as she tucked them under the table.

“It was fun, how was yours?” Draco asked. 

Pansy smiled. “Fun. Did you hear about that Dark Wizard getting killed?” she asked, sounding very excited.

Draco nodded. “Yeah! My father said he was a real bad one!” His father had talked about it a little bit, grateful that it had finally happened, and then hugged him and didn’t let go for a very long time.

“I heard two wizards got killed!” Pansy said, her voice an excited whisper.

Draco frowned a little. “I didn’t hear that.”

Pansy nodded, clearly excited that she had news that he didn’t know. “They were totally destroyed! No bodies!”

“Whoa,” Draco said, eyes going wide. Pansy nodded again and started to speak again but Dumbledore stepped up to the podium and raised his hand for silence. The chatter in the room slowly ceased and Draco turned to look at him.

“I hope you all had a peaceful break. Sadly, we must begin our new term with terrible news,” Dumbledore said, voice grave. “I’m certain that you all have already heard the news that Dark Wizard Riddle was killed, and two heroes tragically gave their lives to assure that we would know peace without fear.”

Dumbledore paused and Draco took the moment to glance around again. Two seats at the Head Table were still empty and the professors were nowhere to be found in the Great Hall. A lump formed in the pit of his stomach and he was suddenly afraid he knew who the Headmaster was talking about. He kept searching the Great Hall though, hoping to see the two of them moving along a wall, late, but heading to the head table. Draco could almost see the sheepish smile Professor Evans would have as he hurried to take a seat.

“It is with a heavy heart that I inform you all that those two heros were our own Professors James Evans and Cygnus Lefevre,” Dumbledore finished.

Draco’s stomach flopped, and his head snapped back to Dumbledore, the head table, and the two empty seats that now looked ominous. 

“No,” he whispered. Around him, murmurs rose in volume and someone from the Ravenclaw table shrieked in dismay, then started to sob loudly. Draco turned, it looked like a sixth year who was being comforted by her friends.

“It was _them_?” Pansy said in disbelief.

“Why? Why would they have anything to do with that?” Draco asked, but Pansy shrugged and shook her head.

“They wouldn’t! They’re not-- it can’t be!” Nott said from his seat on the other side of the table.

“My father didn’t say anything about that!” Draco said, as if his insistence on the matter would change reality.

“Did he know?” Pansy asked. “They didn’t say who killed the Dark Wizard in the paper!”

Draco looked around again, Ron had sat up on his chair to look at him and was shaking his head. Hermione was looking down her own table at the sixth year, who was sobbing louder now.

Dumbledore raised his wand and the hangings in the hall turned black, including the ones on the Head table. Two black banners also appeared, shrouding the two empty chairs. He then held up his hand for silence again, but the murmurs took longer to subside and the sobbing did not.

“There were no bodies to recover, as the two were apparently completely destroyed by Riddle,” Dumbledore said. “I ask you all then raise your wands in tribute to our brave friends who died to protect us all.” He raised his own wand, tip glowing with light. Slowly, wands started to rise, the Great Hall filling with tiny points of light. Draco raised his own, still in shock.

His father hadn’t said anything about the two wizards who’d killed that Dark Wizard, just that the Dark Wizard was dead. Draco’s father had been very pleased about that, he kept saying that they were all truly safe now and things could finally start to change for the better. His mother had sung for the rest of the day, the celebration song that she usually only sang once a year. Draco had been so happy, so pleased to see both his parents so happy, especially his father, who always looked so grave.

Now it turned out the professors were missing because they were both _dead_. Tears stung Draco’s eyes. That couldn’t be true! Professor Lefevre _had_ to be here when his feathers finally came in! His body went hot and cold and the hand on his wand was clammy as he held it in the air. Pansy was crying next to him, holding her arm over her face as she held her wand up.

The stunned silence in the Great Hall was giving way to disbelieving murmurs punctuated by sobs and sniffles. The Ravenclaw had calmed slightly, but was still whimpering. Slowly the candles dimmed, leaving only the lit wands, a dim light that was sucked up by the deep black tapestries. 

Draco kept hoping he was dreaming and he’d wake up on the train, but the seconds passed, and tears started to drip from his eyes. He held his breath to stop himself from crying, but it didn’t work. Pansy leaned her head on his shoulder before she just gave up and started to sob aloud.

The candles slowly brightened, and Dumbledore called on the feast to continue, entreating them to remember James and Cygnus with light hearts. Remembering their lives with joy and not their deaths with sadness.

Despite that entreaty, the meal was quiet and sad. The conversations didn’t rise above a murmur and sobbing could still be heard. Hermione eventually came over to Draco’s table and cried on his shoulder. Draco put his arm around her and pushed his food around his plate. He hadn’t been able to eat and hardly anyone else at his table had either.

“I didn’t know it was _them_!” Pansy moaned and put her head on the table.

“Nothing left!” Nott whispered and shook his head, angrily stabbing his potatoes. “What did he _do_ to them?”

“Does anyone know how they killed him?” Draco asked as Hermione tried to stop crying.

“I…I heard it was…basilisk poison,” Hermione hiccupped. “It’s fatal, you know.”

“Where did they get _that?_ ” Draco asked, but she shook her head and covered her face with her hands, bushy hair falling down and sticking to the tears on her cheeks.

Eventually the meal ended and the students filed out into the corridors to return to their dorms. Draco stood with Ron and Hermione just outside the Great Hall. Hermione was dabbing her face with Draco’s handkerchief.

“It’s a mystery is what it is,” Ron said, scrubbing his face, though he denied that he’d been crying. 

“It really is!” Hermione said, sniffling. “I just don’t understand why...why they weren’t...why there were no bodies.” She hugged herself and shivered at the thought, then paused, her tears slowing. “Maybe...what if they aren’t dead?”

“There’s a lot of spells that can totally destroy a body,” Draco murmured.

Hermione frowned at him, screwing up her whole face as two more tears leaked out the corners of her eyes. “It doesn’t make sense, no matter what they’re saying! Riddle is famous for using the Killing Curse and that doesn’t destroy a body!” she said.

“Can we find out if anyone saw it?” Draco asked. “What they said happened?”

“Let’s get the newspaper,” Hermione said, turning and rushing back into the Great Hall. Ron did the same thing and Draco followed, looking around on the tables for any discarded papers before they vanished as the house elves cleared everything away.

“When did it happen?” Ron asked as they crowded around one paper that Hermione had snatched up. “We might need yesterday’s paper. I can write home, ask mum for it. No! I bet Percy has it! I’ll go make him give it to me!”

“This one has a story about it, but we’ll need other newspapers,” Hermione said, briskly drying her face now that they had something to do. “That Dark Wizard, that Riddle, the history books never said a word about him destroying bodies! He killed lots and lots of people, wizards and muggles, and just left the bodies where they fell! It’s strange that if he killed the professors he wouldn’t have left bodies. So, maybe they aren’t dead. Maybe they survived somehow.” 

“When did you read about all _that_?” Ron asked, sounding horrified.

“It’s all in the latest volume of Wizarding: A History,” she said as she rubbed her face with the heel of her hand again and sniffed.

“Your mum lets you read that?” Ron asked, clearly shocked and dismayed by the idea.

“Of course she does, Ron,” Hermione snapped back, distracted. “Yes, Riddle would’ve wanted everyone to know he’d killed them, that’s what he does.”

“You know, I think she’s right,” Draco said, shuddering. His dad had told stories about Riddle, though never full ones. Bits and pieces about bodies on the pavement and left up in trees. His mother had always stopped him before he got too far, but Draco remembered some of them and now the images they’d created were stuck in his mind. 

“I’ll write and ask my dad too, he knows some about Dark Wizards,” Draco said, shaking his head to try to dislodge the images. 

The three children nodded at each other. Hermione kept the paper and they separated to go back to their dorms. It was hard to believe that Hermione might be right, considering that Dumbledore himself had said they were dead, but it was worth investigating. And it was worth it to figure out what happened.

“Maybe, just maybe,” Draco murmured as he took out a quill and started to write a letter. “Maybe they’re all right.”


End file.
